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| BAIRD WINS GROUP B AT ALLIANZ CUP |
Larry Ellison, in the Oracle-branded boat, leads Brian Angel to the finish line of their match in Flight 7 for his second win in the Allianz Cup. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)
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Paolo Cian (left) follows Ed Baird back to the start line in their Flight 5 match. Baird won the match and the Group B round robin. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)
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Cameron Dunn leads Brian Angel off the start line early in their Flight 5 match, which Angel would win. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)
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SAN FRANCISCO (Oct. 27, 2006) — Ed Baird, a helmsman for America’s Cup defense syndicate Alinghi, won the Group B round robin at the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.
Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) won all three of his matches today and finished with a 6-1 record. Baird tied for the win with Italian Paolo Cian of Team Viano Mercedes Benz – Shosholoza. Cian led yesterday at 4-0, but his lone loss was to Baird in Flight 5 which gave Baird the win.
“It was pretty light,” said Baird, the only skipper to finish in the Championship 8 every Tour season. “There was some current. The current was changing, and each race was different. That was part of the difficulty, to be comfortable with that. Especially in the starting area, it seemed to be quite different than on the racecourse. My guys did a great job of reading that and timing to the line. It gave me a lot of confidence to be in right place in the starts. We got ahead and stayed there today.”
Baird’s timing was the difference in the pre-start against Cian in Flight 5.
“They did an incredible job of time and distance to the line and were able to push us up and out of the line,” said Cian. “So the race was probably over at the beginning. I think we were pretty happy with six wins out of seven races. It’s just the way you read it.”
Denmark’s Jesper Bank, skipper of United Internet Team Germany, finished third at 5-2 and Australian Peter Gilmour, the reigning match racing world champion, was fourth at 4-3.
They advance to tomorrow’s Quarterfinal Round, which features some very intriguing matches. Baird will face Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. Cian races Ben Ainslie, a helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand. Bank takes on Peter Holmberg, another helmsman for Alinghi, and Gilmour goes against Ian Williams, the current leader of the world championship standings.
The winner of each match is the first to 3 points. The quarterfinals will be broadcast live on the Internet tomorrow at www.Sail.tv. The Webcast is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., weather permitting.
The light winds from the north today inhibited the completion of more racing. The wind blew mostly between 6 and 8 knots, but died away in the afternoon which forced racing to be abandoned after Group B finished its round robin.
The event moves on to the quarterfinals without arguably its biggest attraction, Larry Ellison. The CEO of Oracle and founder of the BMW ORACLE Racing Team fell to 0-5 before closing out with two wins. He finished with a 2-5 record and in 6th place in the group.
“Actually, we’re kind of pleased with sixth place,” Ellison said to a packed press conference at the St. Francis Yacht Club. “Let’s hear it for sixth place!”
Ellison said he hadn’t raced in J/105s before but enjoyed the regatta. He said that yesterday was a very humbling experience sailing in a cross current.
“It is very difficult and tricky sailing in a cross current,” Ellison said. “And sailing against this caliber of skipper and these quality teams, it’s quite astonishing how good they are at what they do. It was just an honor for me to be out amongst them.”
The Allianz Cup may not be Ellison’s last World Tour event. He received an impromptu invitation to Stage 6, the Monsoon Cup in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, from Gilmour, the event’s technical director.
“Just yesterday I got word that Russell Coutts is unavailable to come because he doesn’t have a crew,” said Gilmour. “So Larry, there’s an opening for you. It’s known as the world’s richest event in sailing with a 1 million ringet ($275,000) prize money.”
“Are you serious?” replied Ellison.
“I guess that’s a yes,” Gilmour concluded.
AUDIO Listen to Peter Gilmour invite Larry Ellison to the Monsoon Cup (1m:13s // 1.5 megs)
Tomorrow’s schedule calls for the quarterfinals to begin at 10:00 a.m. The race committee also hopes to sail the semifinals in the afternoon.
The event Web site can be found at www.AllianzCup.com and the World Tour Web site at www.WorldMatchRacingTour.com. For free video content about Allianz Cup, please log onto www.thenewsmarket.com/allianz to preview and request video. You can receive broadcast-standard video digitally or by tape from this site. Registration and video is free to the media.
For editorial free hi res images of racing please visit the Allianz Cup gallery at the World Match Racing Tour Web site, Allianz Cup Gallery.
The Allianz Cup is sponsored by Allianz. The Presenting Sponsor is Oracle and the Main Partners are Allianz U.S. entities Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, and Allianz Life. Fellow Partners include BMW, NetApp, Pindar Graphics and AlphaGraphics.
Allianz Group is one of the largest and most renowned financial services providers in the world. Representing an international network of strong brands with first-class products, Allianz brings together the expertise of specialists in the fields of property and casualty insurance, life and health insurance, asset management and banking. Founded in 1890 in Berlin, Allianz is now present in more than 70 countries with over 177,000 employees. For more details on Allianz sponsorship please visit: http://sponsoring.allianz.com/en/home.html.
The World Match Racing Tour is the world’s leading professional sailing series. The events of the World Tour determine the ISAF Match Racing World Champion, who will be crowned in December 2007. A total of 15 events comprise the 2006-’07 World Tour schedule.
The World Tour is sanctioned by ISAF, sailing’s world governing body. The World Tour Partner and Official Car is BMW (Munich, Germany). World Tour sponsors include Sebago (Rockford, Mich.), the Official Footwear Supplier, Travel Places (West Sussex, England), the Official Travel Partner, and Wedgwood (Stoke-on-Trent, England), the Official Trophy Sponsor.
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Baird Wins Group B at Allianz Cup
RELATED CONTENT
Allianz Cup Gallery
Allianz Cup Flight Schedule and Results
Allianz Cup Crew List
Cian Grabs Early Lead in Group B at Allianz Cup (Oct. 26, 2006)
Williams Wins Group at Allianz Cup (Oct. 25, 2006)
Larry Ellison Enters Allianz Cup (Oct. 18, 2006)
Oracle Named Presenting Sponsor of Allianz Cup (Oct. 2, 2006)
World Tour to Visit San Francisco Bay (Aug. 30, 2006)
FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORLD TOUR
Sean McNeill
Director of Public Relations
Tel: +1 401 662 1501
E-mail: smcneill@f10marketing.com
FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE ALLIANZ CUP
Ben Barker / Paul Turner
Team Allianz Sailing Press Office
Tel: +44 (0) 207 413 5984 / +1 415 281 7146
E-mail: ben.barker@hillandknowlton.com / paul.turner@hillandknowlton.com
FOR INFORMATION IN SAN FRANCISCO
Richard Matthews / Dean Church
Matthews Communications
Tel: +1 203 853 7095 / +1 415 336 3879
E-mail: Richard@mattmedia.com / dpchurch@pacbell.net
GROUP B PROVISIONAL STANDINGS
(After 7 of 7 flights)
1. Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi, 6-1
(Crew: Mike Drummond, Nils Frei, Piet Van Nieuwenhuyzen, Craig Satterthwaite)
2. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Viano Mercedes Benz – Shosholoza, 6-1
(Crew: Ian Ainslie, Nando Colaninno, Pierluigi Fornelli, Nello Pavoni)
3. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 5-2
(Crew: Henrik Blaksjaer, Thomas Jacobsen, Mike Mottl, Jan Schoepe)
4. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 4-3
(Crew: Bill Colombo, Keith Love, Sean Svendsen, Yasuhiro Yaji)
5. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 2-5
(Crew: Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Devan le Bihan, Yannick Simon)
6. Larry Ellison (USA) BMW ORACLE Racing, 2-5
(Crew: Gavin Brady, Rod Dawson, Morgan Trubovich, Brad Webb)
7. Brian Angel (USA) King Harbor Match Race, 2-5
(Crew: Ryan Aubry, Jon Bell, Sunny Gibson, David Hochart)
8. Cameron Dunn (NZL) Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia, 1-6
(Crew: Matteo Auguadro, Maciel Cicchetti, Chris Dougal, Rasmus Kostner)
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Newsletter - September 2008
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